Tuesday, 15 November 2016

I think I'll give up apologising for the lack of blog posts, and just accept (as you may have to) that they will not be that regular!

Anyway, here we are at the end of the year again. It has been a funny old year, news wise (worryingly in my opinion), and two of my musical heroes have died (Bowie and Cohen), but in creative terms it has been pretty fruitful and exciting. I've been working on a rather exciting commission in the last few months, which I can't reveal yet(!), transformed an elephant, and created my biggest donkey print to date!

I NEVER EVER take interest in my work for granted, and would like to thank you for supporting me. I love what I do, and to be able to do it for a living still blows my mind, even after seven or so years. So, THANKS A BUNCH!!!!

HERD OF SHEFFIELD

So, the auction was held last month, at the Crucible in Sheffield, to sell of all 52 elephants created for 'Herd Of Sheffield'. My 'Donkeys in Elephant Land' one raised £6000, and the total raised was over £400,000 for the Sheffield Children's Hospital, to buy vital medical equipment. What a result!

My elephant was bought by John Mellor and his family in Sheffield, and it is now at home in their house. Over the years they have been raising a fair bit of money for medical equipment for Sheffield schools, so it is fitting that they won the auction. Here is pic of John's mother-in-law hazel with the elephant.

Tabitha belongs to my friend Camilla. She has a house full of very beautiful cats, and I was drawn towards this particular one. I particularly enjoyed trying to create the tabby markings on her fur and her wired expression! It is an edition of 100.

This is my fourth print of the beautiful Yorkshire town of Whitby. I had featured the abbey previously, but with this print I wanted to concentrate on getting more detail into the building, and the surrounding landscape. The image started off as a linocut, but I decided to print the edition (of 60) as a slightly larger screen-print (at Sheffield Print Club).Both prints are available in my Folksy shop.

EVENTS

Here are my last four events of the year. Maybe I'll see you at one or other of them?

Sheffield Print Fair 2016St Mary's Church & Community Centre, Bramall Lane, Sheffield S2 4QZSat 19th November 2016, 10am-4pmI co-organise this event, now in its 4th year. This time we have 44 printmakers, plus print demonstrations, kids' workshops and very tasty food and drink. We're really looking forward to it, and are more than a little bit excited to show you what's on offer! The event is supported by Folksy and Sheffield Hallam University, and we are very grateful to them. The posters were created by the supremely talented We Live Here. Check out our blog for more info.

The Harley Gallery Christmas Art & Food MarketA60 Mansfield Road, Welbeck, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 3LWFri 25th-Sun 27th November 2016, 10am-5pmOne of my favourite events of the year, and one I always end up buying things from too! A really big marquee in the beautiful grounds of the Welbeck Estate, full of top-notch art and craft.

Friday, 29 July 2016

Herd news, and loads of new prints this month. No event news, as I'm taking a bit of a break for August, but lots to come from September onwards.. I'll keep you posted..

HERD OF SHEFFIELD

So, here is my finished elephant, entitled 'Donkeys In Elephant Land', in place at Weston Park, Sheffield, as part of the 'Herd Of Sheffield' trail. The trail consists of 58 large elephants placed all around the city, each transformed by a different artists. There are also a load of smaller ones transformed by various schools/schoolchildren in the city. I'm very proud to have taken part in the project, and see peoples reactions to my work. I've seen pretty much all of the other elephants, and they look ace. I'm in very good company; See the full list of artists here. The elephants will be in place until October 2016, and will be auctioned off for the Sheffield Children's Hospital afterwards.

My biggest 'donkey-world' print, and first ever on non-white paper, it is simply a further exploration of this place I have dreamed up where donkeys inhabit, away from us pesky humans.Midnight Donkey (2-colour linocut print)

This donkey has just popped out for a late-night stroll. Who knows what adventures he might have?

This is the official poster for the 'Folk Forest' music festival in Sheffield, which is part of Tramlines Festival. I create a different design based on the theme each year, and this is the 2016 one. The posters are limited to 100 copies.

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

I've been working on a rather unusual commission this month, in the shape of an elephant; not a print of an elephant, but a great big fibreglass elephant! My job was to transform it into a piece of art, as part of the 'Herd Of Sheffield' project. In brief, fifty artists in the city have been chosen to apply a transformation, and the finished elephants are going to be displayed around Sheffield as a kind of trail from July 2016. People will be encouraged to find them all with the help of a special app. Each elephant has a sponsor (mine is the University Of Sheffield), and when the trail ends in September, the elephants will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Sheffield Children's Hospital.

In addition to this, lots of schools of Sheffield have been getting involved, transforming a load of smaller beasts. these will be displayed in the city, too.

As my studio isn't really big enough for a life-size elephant, my elephant was based in a Special Steels factory in Attercliffe, Sheffield, alongside a load of other artist's elephants. All sorts of great artists are involved in this, including George Law, Tom Newell, Kid Acne, Lisa Maltby, Jonathan Wilkinson, Florence Blanchard, Coralie Turpin-Thomson, Ella Osborne and many more. We were given two weeks to do our 'work' in the factory, and it was a lot of fun, but a really hard work too. I'm used to a printing studio, not a big smelly, grimy factory, but I think it did my brain some good to be out of my normal environment! I met some lovely artists that I hadn't before too, and in a way it felt like we were on some weird school project. We hung out, painted, drank gallons of tea and ate our sarnies, while the steel-workers gave us funny looks (they were all very friendly actually).

Here are a few sneaky preview shots of my elephant. As you might have guessed, I decided to have a 'donkey' theme. I'll show you the full thing when the Herd is launched in July 2016, and let you know where you can see him.

Friday, 15 April 2016

This is just a quick blog post to let you know about Open Up Sheffield 2016.

It takes place on the last weekend of April and the first one of May. Loads of artist based in the city open up their studios to the public to come and see how they work and maybe buy some art too! It is a really great event and highlights the diversity of artistic talent there is in Sheffield. I'm open on:

I'll be taking part this year (as I have done in the last few years), but this time from my new(ish) studio at the bottom of my garden! I'm going to tidy it up a bit, maybe bake a cake, and do some linocutting and printing (as well as displaying a load of my prints).

I'm based in Meersbrook, S8, and you can find more details and a map at the following link:

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

Is it really March? Oops. Apologies for the lack of blogging for the past three months.

I have an excuse. I spent most of January working on commissions, and then February on new prints. Since Christmas I'm still feeling the effects of having 'been on TV', with quite a lot of interest in my work, which I'm very grateful for!

ELEPHANT!

I've been selected as one of the artists for the 'Herd Of Sheffield' project. What this means is that I (and several other artists) have been tasked with creating art on rather large fibre-glass elephants. The finished artworks will be displayed around Sheffield in a 'trail' later in the year. Each creature has been sponsored (mine by The University Of Sheffield), and they will be auctioned off at the end of the trail period, with all profits going to the Sheffield Children's Hospital charity. I'll keep you posted with work-in-progress pics!

NEW PRINTSI have three new landscapes to show you, and one new creature.

Two landscapes are of Scarborough. I visited last year for the first time in ages, and was somewhat inspired. The Yorkshire coast. Need I say more?'Scarborough No.1'is a 2-colour linocut (edition of 100), and 'Scarborough No.2' is a larger linocut/screenprint (edition of 60). I have also made a print of a view in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. I've passed this view many times on my way through the region, and thought it about time to capture it. 'Matlock Bath' is a 2-colour linocut (edition of 100).

Scarborough No.1

Scarborough No.2

Matlock Bath

Also,'Young Badger'is the latest creature to make a home in my collection. It is available as an A3 poster-print.

Young Badger

GREETING CARDSI have now signed up with card publishersGreen Pebbleto produce all of my greeting cards. They supply cards to shops and galleries all over the world, and you can also buy direct from their website. All of the designs for sale are ones that I've never previously had available (inc Peloton, Pheasants, Stag and more).

EVENTS

I'm taking part in the following events over the next month or so:Manchester Print FairSat 19th & Sun 20th March 2016, People History Museum, Salford

Open Up SheffieldSat 30th April, Sun 1st May, Sat 7th May, Sun 8th May (location via the link)Yes, the Sheffield open studios event returns, and this year I'm taking part in my (newish) own studio in my back garden! New works, some linocutting/printing and cake too..

About Me

Brief Biography

I've been producing printed artwork for perhaps the last 15 years. In 2010 I decided to go full-time as an artist, and I'm still at it! I specialise in linocuts and screen-prints.I graduated with a degree in Fine Art in 1995, specialising in photography (for no other reason than I didn't really enjoy painting or sculpture), and then spent the next few years in dead-end jobs and being unemployed, fighting with thousands of other arts graduates for the rare art-related jobs that appeared.Eventually I worked in a few (non art-related) decent jobs, and then discovered print-making. It was a revelation to me. A way of creating art that felt physical and quite a challenge! I'm inspired by the graphic quality of printmaking, and the way you can say a lot with very little. Artist-wise I'm inspired by people like Goya, Stanley Spencer, Max Beckmann and Egon Schiele. All quite direct artists. More contemporary people I like are the artist/graphic novelist Chris Ware, Kid Acne, illustrator Jonathan Wilkinson and cartoonist/writer Elodie Ginsbourg.So I've been doing it ever since, and now spend all my time working on it (aside from the time spent being a musician - my other passion).I've had a little success along the way being shortlisted in 2006 for the International Small Print Competition for my work 'Paris Buggy' and taking part in the 'Portrait Artist Of The Year' and 'Landscape Artist Of The Year' TV shows in 2013/2015 (reaching the semi-final in the latter). I've also produced commissions for people like Paul Smith Menswear,The Hepworth Wakefield, Sheffield Children's Festival, The Folk Forest music festival and Domino Records. I sell my work via my Folksy shop, my NOTHS shop, to various shops and galleries around the UK, and also at various Art/Craft Markets.I also have a facebook page too. Please come along and become a fan if you like my stuff!